


Challenges

by undertheimperius



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, College AU, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:49:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undertheimperius/pseuds/undertheimperius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chucks drags Castiel along to his friend's bonfire, but Cas, a shy anthropology major, doesn't know any of the others at the party. He ends up sitting beside Dean and sparks an unlikely friendship. - - written as a gift</p>
            </blockquote>





	Challenges

Castiel should’ve known better than to agree to spend time with Chuck and his friends. Separately, they were interesting and creative people who refused to give in to the rigid indoctrination of society and strove to live life according to their own viewpoints, which was probably why they were so at home at their small liberal arts college on the east coast.

Chuck himself was a creative writing major who consistently smelled like cheap soap and whiskey and was convinced he was going to be writing the next great American novel. Ash, another one of their group of misfits, was a disgustingly intelligent computer hacker who was likely to get swept up by a giant technological corporation upon graduation. Ruby and Meg were devious studio art majors that delved into their work with a precision and dedication that was to be rivaled.

Castiel, on the other hand… He wasn’t anything  _interesting_. He had started off his freshman year as a biology major with a minor in religious studies; like his father and two of his older brothers, he was supposed to go off to medical school and become a star doctor. After spending enough time with his new friends, though, he decided to follow what it was that his heart truly yearned for and switched his major to anthropology; from there, he worked with his advisor to plan a course of action to land him in a PhD program somewhere so that he could eventually teach. He’d certainly lost the support from his family and, for awhile, found himself floundering, but he finally felt  _free_. He was no longer stifled by their rigid ruleset and now, he could embrace who he was. 

Ash had managed to get released from campus housing their senior year and landed a house on the beach; he’d extended an invitation to Chuck to join him for a bonfire, and the scruffy bespectacled young man physically forced Castiel to accompany him, deaf to his friends pleas that he didn’t know anyone who was going to be there. Although Castiel had felt freer to explore his options, he hadn’t exactly gotten to  _know_  very many people over the years. He’d made a friend in Chuck and had made casual acquaintances with his friends by proximity, but that didn’t meant he actually spent time with them outside of classes and group functions.

Upon arrival, Chuck dumped Cas on a wooden log that functioned as a bench by the fire while he disappeared to find the keg. As such, he sat alone, toying with the cuffs of his large cable knit sweater.

"Mind if I sit here?" came a voice to his left. A tall young man in well-worn jeans, rugged boots, and a leather jacket plopped down beside him, a plastic cup of beer in his hand. His bottle-green eyes reflected the light of the fire, and he sat so close that Castiel could see the light dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks.

"Not at all," Cas replied, focusing on the flickering of the flames in front of him. He had seen the young man before on campus; in fact, they had been a few classes together prior to the school year and now were in the same anthropology class. Castiel doubted that he was also an anthropology major, since he would have likely seen him more frequently, but the class was an upper-level seminar on biological anthropology, so perhaps he was a minor? He couldn’t understand why someone would enroll in the course for any other reason than it was required; the material got so dense at times that he himself found it difficult to stay afloat.

"Hey, aren’t you in my anthro class? It’s Castiel, right?"

Castiel was shocked that he’d made enough of an impression on the young man that he remembered his name, but he nodded in affirmation. “And you’re Dean, if I remember correctly?”

"Yeah!" Dean grinned, taking a sip of his beer; his smile was infectious. "How’re you liking the class so far?" They were only a couple of weeks into their senior year and the course had only met a few times, but they were already drowning in work.

"It’s truly fascinating," said Castiel, his face lighting up in excitement at being able to speak about something he actually found interesting, and he said as much; he talked about how the material actually paralleled a lot of what he learned in his early biology classes and how it was interesting to see the scientific aspect of his favorite subject. "But I must be boring you…"

"No, not at all. It’s awesome that you’re so into it. Me, I just needed another elective and I had the pre-reqs to get into it, so I signed myself up." Well, there went the thought that he was an anthropology minor. "I’m actually a physics major, so it’s kind of outta left field for me and some of the things Dr. Moseley says go over my head, but it’s pretty cool stuff."

"I could help you sometime, if you’re interested," Castiel blurted; he wasn’t sure if he could get away with blaming the pink flush that colored his cheeks on the fire, but he hoped that Dean wouldn’t pick up on his nervousness.

Dean took a sip of his beer, a crooked smile on his face as he contemplated his cup. “That’d be really awesome, Cas; I’d appreciate it.”

Their conversation lapsed into silence for a moment before Dean cleared his throat and spoke up again. “So how do you know Ash?”

Castiel shrugged a shoulder and returned to absently playing with his sweater cuffs. “I’m friends with Chuck, so he brought me along.”

Dean let out a boisterous laugh, his head tilted back and exposing the expanse of his throat; Castiel fidgeted in his seat. “Really? I wouldn’t ‘ve expected that… No offense, man, but you do  _not_  seem the type to be hangin’ out with Chuck.”

"What’s that supposed to mean?" groused Castiel, a frown settling itself on his brow.

Dean waved expansively with his cup, as if that was explanation enough. “Well, y’know, he’s  _Chuck_. The guy reeks of booze and only leaves his grungy apartment for free food and literary mag meetings. And you’re, well.” He paused, mulling it over for a second. “You’re  _you_.”

Castiel crossed his arms over his chest, growing increasingly frustrated. “I still don’t understand what sort of point you’re trying to make.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. If I dared you to go swimming with me right now, you wouldn’t do it.”

He was right; Castiel wouldn’t do it. But for some reason, under the light of the late summer sun, he felt compelled to prove Dean wrong, to prove him that underneath his straight-laced exterior was a free spirit that had waved a giant middle finger in the face of his father and chosen to follow what he believed in.

"You don’t know that."

Dean raised a single eyebrow, obviously intrigued. “Oh really?”

"Last one in is a rotten egg," teased Castiel, and with that, he took off towards the waves, kicking up little puffs of sand behind him. Dean, not one to be left behind, set his cup in the sand and chased after him, splashing into the salty sea with a stupid grin on his face, pleased to have been proven wrong.


End file.
